Ontario Suffers Setback In Airport Lawsuit

(February 27) The city of Ontario on Thursday February 26 suffered third and fourth setbacks in its litigative quest to reassume control of Ontario Airport.
Riverside Superior Court Judge Gloria Connor Trask, who in January issued two tentative rulings that the 1967 joint-powers agreement between Ontario and Los Angeles that gave Los Angeles managerial and administrative control of the airport and the 1985 vote by the Ontario City Council that deeded the airport to Los Angeles were valid, confirmed those rulings yesterday.
Ontario, through its law firm, Washington, D.C.-based l Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton, maintains those agreements are not binding. Trask said Ontario’s opportunity to rescind the transfer of the airport once existed but elapsed in 1989 because of the statute of limitations.
Ontario has three other claims remaining intact in its suit, which was filed in June of 2013.
In 1967, the airport had fewer than 200,000 passengers pass through its gates. Under Los Angeles’ management and ownership, ridership at the airport climbed to 7.2 million in 2007. But passenger traffic dropped off steadily after that, dwindling to 4.03 million in the year ending in July 2014. Ontario now wants to take back ownership and control of the airport.

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